Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

Rolling west from Gallop, NM on Interstate 40, we found ourselves at the entrance to two National Parks - Painted Desert and Petrofied Forest. The list price for entrance to a National Park has soared! Ouch! The good news: I have become so fossilized that I am eligible for an "old fogies" pass.  This cost only $10 and is good for the rest of my life!!

Painted Desert

These first two pictures are the main overlook.

From this point there is a trail along the rim to the historic Painted Desert Inn. It now is a museum and visitors center. The following three pictures are from along this trail.

At this point, we planned to walk back to the car, but my wife decided that only two would go back while the rest waited.

Petrified Forest

After that, we drove down the park road to Petrified Forest. Along the way, we passed the remains of an old car which marked where US-66 intersected the then entrance roads for the two parks.

The first stop in Petrified Forest NP is the bridge. We walked down to it. This is one of the oldest tourist spots in the park. Unfortunately, I could not get a good picture of it.

We drove on to Crystal Forest. There is a short hiking trail which we took. Along the way, I took the following pictures.

After this, we rolled on to the south entrance. There, under a canopy with a picnic table, we ate lunch - two of those boxes of left-over chinese food. We also went through the visitors' center and hiked the little trail through the Giant Forset. My wife's knee started to give out and I had to assist her. This curtailed my photography. My daughter, I believe got some good shots,however. Maybe, she will let me post them later.

From here, we rolled on through Arizona, between I-40 and I-10. We wandered up to I-40 and stopped in Winslow, AZ to find some food and lodging. We found an Econo Lodge hotel on the western side of town and ate dinner at a pizza joint on the north side.